Stefanie Trudeau, the Montreal police officer better known as "Officer 728" was in Montreal court Friday morning for a change in her legal status.
She was charged in March 2014 with assault after being caught on video making a violent arrest in October 2012, and then insulting the people arrested.
The case has since been delayed several times, and now the judge has altered the process so it will be handled as a summary case instead of being a criminal trial.
This means there will be no preliminary hearing, a trial should be quick, and Trudeau will face a maximum sentence of six months in jail if found guilty.
If convicted Trudeau would be able to keep her job, something that is not an option for police officers convicted of a criminal act.
People convicted of assault normally face up to five years in prison.
Trudeau's case is scheduled to be in court again in February to set a court date.
Trudeau gained notoriety during the student protest movement of 2012 when she was videotaped using pepper spray on people in the vicinity of protests, and then for the video of the violent arrest.
She has since been suspended by the Montreal police force and ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation.
Trudeau is also awaiting trial on a separate charge of threatening Police Brotherhood union staff.
